Storage medium, information processing apparatus and control method for deciding object types and appearances based on hardware resource usage amounts

ABSTRACT

A computer is caused to execute processing that that determines, based on a first usage amount of a hardware resource which is allocated for processing corresponding to objects of a first category including an essential object located in a target scene, a second usage amount of the hardware resource that is able to be allocated for processing for objects of a second category different to the first category. Also, the computer is caused to execute processing of deciding, for objects of the second category which are located in the target scene, types of those objects and an outer appearance parameter for each type based on the second usage amount and information for deciding outer appearances for when the objects of the second category are located in the target scene.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a storage medium, an informationprocessing apparatus and a control method, and particularly to atechnique of generating an object under a hardware restriction.

Description of the Related Art

In recent years, in conjunction with an improvement in computationalcapabilities of processors such as CPUs and GPUs, a rendering expressionthat is close to the real world has become possible in the field ofcomputer graphics, and techniques by which it is possible to provide anexperience that gives a sense of reality and causes an observer tobecome more immersed have been proposed. In particular, in the field ofcomputerized games, the so-called open world game format, in whichseamless movement in a vast, realistically expressed virtual world canbe provided to a player, has achieved a certain assessment from theperspective of degrees of freedom of manipulation (Japanese PatentLaid-Open No. 2012-213485).

Reality presentation in an open world game, as in Japanese PatentLaid-Open No. 2012-213485, is provided not just by beautiful graphicsbased on a faithful rendering reproduction of the real world(illumination computations or the like), but also by, for example,reproducing a state in which a character, a movable gimmick object(props), or the like dynamically changes in accordance with thesituation. In particular in recent years it is possible to cause aplayer to perceive a higher sense of reality by performing variouscomputations based on a so-called physical simulation that reproducesbehavior in accordance with the laws of nature. By implementingso-called artificial intelligence or the like by which a characterperforms decision-making in accordance with predetermined information,based on variable information that indicates a current state orinformation embedded in a located field, it is possible to cause aplayer to recognize the character as an individual that has anindividuality.

In contrast, because an implementation for improving such a sense ofreality typically consumes many computation resources and memoryresources, even if the scale of computational capabilities or memory fora player's game console, PC, or the like improves, there were concerns,for example, that a memory capacity used in holding or loading ofcorresponding data would be pressed, that an amount of computation thatshould be caused to terminate within a frame interval would become huge,or the like.

In content such as a game, because provision of necessary game elementsthat a planner or the like should provide is prioritized, it isnecessary to implement measures to improve the reality under hardwarerestrictions by making processes superior or inferior. However, there isthe possibility of not being able to provide a suitable sense of realityby only implementing necessary game elements by performing variouscomputation processing for objects including locating of renderingobjects such as a fixed character group, for example. In other words,because reality is something provided based on accidentalness, it isimportant to construct a desired world-view that dynamically changes inaccordance with, for example, a region, time period, the weather, or thelike, and to locate and control so-called lively elements, such asobjects that have individual variability.

However, a technique that suitably locates and controls lively elementsin this way under hardware restrictions, that is by using limitedresources that can dynamically change in accordance with requiredelements, has thus far not been proposed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention was made in view of such problems in theconventional technique. The present invention provides a storage medium,an information processing apparatus and a control method, that suitablygenerate and control a rendering object that presents a reality under ahardware restriction.

The present invention in its first aspect provides a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing a program that causes acomputer, having a hardware resource used for either of computation andholding data connected to a renderer for rendering a screen in which anobject is located in a scene, to execute: processing of identifying afirst usage amount of the hardware resource which is allocated forprocessing corresponding to objects of a first category including anessential object located in a target scene; processing of determining,based on the first usage amount, a second usage amount of the hardwareresource that is able to be allocated for processing for objects of asecond category different to the first category; and processing ofdeciding, for the objects of the second category which are located inthe target scene, types of those objects and an outer appearanceparameter for each type based on the second usage amount and informationfor deciding outer appearances for when the objects of the secondcategory are located in the target scene.

The present invention in its second aspect provides an informationprocessing apparatus having a hardware resource used for either ofcomputation and holding data connected to a renderer for rendering ascreen in which an object is located in a scene, the apparatuscomprising: an identifier which is able to identify a first usage amountof the hardware resource which is allocated for processing correspondingto objects of a first category including an essential object located ina target scene; a determiner which is able to determine, based on thefirst usage amount identified by the identifier, a second usage amountof the hardware resource that is able to be allocated for processing forobjects of a second category different to the first category; and adecider which is able to decide, for the objects of the second categorywhich are located in the target scene, types of those objects and anouter appearance parameter for each type based on the second usageamount determined by the determiner and information for deciding outerappearances for when the objects of the second category are located inthe target scene.

The present invention in its third aspect provides a method ofcontrolling an information processing apparatus having a hardwareresource used for either of computation and holding data connected to arenderer for rendering a screen in which an object is located in ascene, the method comprising: a step of identifying a first usage amountof the hardware resource which is allocated for processing correspondingto objects of a first category including an essential object located ina target scene; a step of determining, based on the first usage amount,a second usage amount of the hardware resource that is able to beallocated for processing for objects of a second category different tothe first category; and a step of deciding, for the objects of thesecond category which are located in the target scene, types of thoseobjects and an outer appearance parameter for each type based on thesecond usage amount and information for deciding outer appearances forwhen the objects of the second category are located in the target scene.

Further features of the present invention will become apparent from thefollowing description of exemplary embodiments (with reference to theattached drawings).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for illustrating a functional configuration ofa game console 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 2A and 2B are views for explaining data according to embodimentsof the present invention for causing the outer appearance of an NPC carto differ.

FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D are views for illustrating an NPC car having adifferent outer appearance generated by a rendering program determinedfor one piece of model data according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for exemplifying processing for locating an NPCcar executed in the game console 100 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is a view for showing an example of information according to anembodiment of the present invention for locating NPC cars.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be describedhereinafter in detail, with reference to the accompanying drawings.Note, in the embodiment described below, explanation is given for anexample where the present invention is applied to a game consolecomprising a rendering unit for rendering a screen where a renderingobject is located in a scene according to game content as an example ofan information processing apparatus. However, the present invention isnot limited to a device that integrally comprises an apparatus having ascreen rendering function in which the rendering objects are located ina scene, and can also be applied to any device, to which the devicehaving the function is directly or indirectly connected, that has ahardware resource that is used for either computation or data retention.

In addition, in the present specification, the term “PC” refers to aPlayer Character on which an operation control is directly performed inaccordance with manipulation performed by a player with respect to amanipulation input interface; the term “NPC” differs from a PC andrefers to a Non-Player Character on which operation control either isperformed, but not based on manipulation performed by a player, or isperformed indirectly in accordance with manipulation performed by aplayer. Also, a computation such as of a position or an orientationdetermination in accordance with behavior corresponding to anenvironment change or a dynamic change due to a physical simulation isperformed as necessary for an object on which control of behavior isperformed, such as a character object such as a PC or an NPC, a laterdescribed automobile object, or a background (BG) object like a plant,for which an operation is induced by wind, rain, or a movement of PC; inthe following explanation, these are simply called “physicalcomputations” as a whole. In addition, for simplicity in the presentembodiment, explanation is given below such that a “physicalcomputation” also includes, in addition to computations for behavior,computations for obtaining a result based on a simulation, such as acomputation corresponding to a shading or a luminance change due to adirect light source and an indirect light source produced by anexistence of a light source, a computation corresponding to reproductionof glare produced by a reflection of mirror surface, a puddle, or thelike, and a computation corresponding to rendering of Visual Effects(VFX) due to weather or a particular skill of a character.

Also, although detail will be explained later, in a provision of gamecontent, especially that for which information is updated every frame,there is processing, such as data loading of a required rendering objectand computations on a corresponding object, which should be executedupon the provision by preferentially allocating a hardware resource suchas a CPU or a memory. In other words, for a rendering object such as anabove-described so-called lively element, it is necessary to performusing a surplus resource after the preferential allocation is performed.According to this embodiment, a car object is given as an example of arendering object for which data loading or processing should beperformed using a surplus resource in this way, and it is explained asan “NPC car” hereinafter. Note that it should be easily understood thatthe rendering objects to which surplus resources are allocated and forwhich processing for rendering is performed are not limited to carobjects, and that another type of object, or in some cases an NPC, maybe included.

Note, an essential rendering object is an element which can vary duringgame play by a player in accordance with a position of a PC which is atarget of manipulation the player, or a position of a viewpoint for ascreen rendering. In the present embodiment, this is assumed to be a PCthat is normally captured in a screen provided in the process of playinggame content, and objects corresponding to physical objects such as aPC, an ally character made to act alongside as an “ally” of a PC in thegame, a sub-character such as a person involved in a specific event or ashop owner in the game, or a building predetermined to be located in aspecific position in a world of the game content, which are physicalobjects that are viewable from a world position at which a PC ispresent, are treated as essential rendering objects in accordance with aprogress condition of the game, and hereinafter simply referred to as“essential objects”.

<Configuration of Game Console 100>

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for showing a functional configuration of agame console 100 according to embodiments of the present invention.

A control unit 101 is for example a CPU or the like, and performsprocessing corresponding game content that is provided as well ascontrol of operation of each block that the game console 100 has. Thecontrol unit 101 performs an operation corresponding to operationcontrol of each block or a provision of game content by reading out anoperation program or a game program of each block, for example recordedin a storage medium 102, loading it to a memory 103 and executing it.

The storage medium 102 is a recording apparatus, for example anon-volatile ROM integrated in the game console 100, an HDD detachablyconnected to the game console 100, a recording medium that can be readwhen inserted into an optical drive, or the like. The storage medium 102records not only the operation program and the game program of eachblock that the game console 100 has, but also various parameters, dataof a rendering object, or the like, required for an operation of eachblock. Rendering object data has model data, texture data, a renderingprogram such as a shader in association with an object ID which isidentification information for identifying an object uniquely forexample.

The memory 103 is, for example, a volatile memory. The memory 103 isused not only for loading of an operation program or a game program ofeach block, but also for a storage region for temporarily storingintermediate data outputted in an operation of each block and variousinformation defined in an execution of a game program. For convenienceof explanation of the present invention, in the present embodiment,explanation is given clearly distinguishing a later described renderingmemory 105 and the memory 103 from their characteristics.

A rendering unit 104 is a rendering apparatus, for example a GPU forperforming various computations corresponding to rendering and gamescreen generation for presenting to an external display apparatus as afinal output. The rendering unit 104 reads out and loads the requiredrendering object data into the rendering memory 105 which may be forexample, a GPU memory, performs rendering applying requiredcomputations, and generates a game screen for every frame.

A display output unit 106 is a display output interface that the gameconsole 100 has, and can output game screens generated by the renderingunit 104 to a connected display apparatus (not shown) at a predeterminedtiming, and perform a provision of game content to a player. A displayapparatus existing as an external unit of the game console 100 may beconnected to the game console 100 by wire or wirelessly, and may beinstalled integrally inside a housing of the game console 100.

A manipulation input unit 107 is a user interface which the game console100 has such as a game pad, a keyboard, a mouse, or the like, forexample. The manipulation input unit 107 analyzes a manipulation inputfrom the player received by these various user interfaces, and transmitsa corresponding control signal to the control unit 101. Alternatively,the manipulation input unit 107 notifies an occurrence of an eventcorresponding to the analyzed manipulation input to the control unit101.

<Overview of Processing for NPC Cars Corresponding to RealityPresentation>

For a presentation of a suitable reality, it is necessary to considerthe locating of a rendering object that has behavior or individualvariability according to a dynamic element as described above, or atendency of the rendering object for which a world-view is considered.Below, first, an explanation is given for an overview of processing forNPC cars corresponding to a reality presentation under a restriction ofa hardware resource for game content that is provided by the gameconsole 100 according to the present embodiment.

<Restriction Due to Hardware Resource>

Firstly, a restriction caused by a hardware resource is explained. Ingame content provided by the game console 100 of the present embodiment,a player can move a PC in a vast field of an open world by manipulatingit. As described above, essential objects change in accordance with aprogress condition of the game that changes in conjunction with suchmovement, but it is necessary that various data for rendering determinedfor essential objects be stored in the rendering memory 105 for eachsituation. Also, in addition to the essential objects as describedabove, a rendering object of an enemy character, which is a battleopponent of the PC, and a rendering object caused to belong to anessential object such as a piece of equipment or a vehicle that the PCor an ally character attaches or rides, or the like, are things forwhich an existence or absence of rendering is controlled in accordancewith a progress condition of a game or a scenario, and the existence orabsence of rendering, unlike NPC cars, cannot be switched regardless ofthe progress condition. That is, other than the predetermined essentialobjects, for an object (priority object) which requires a preferentiallocation suitable to a situation as a game element, it is necessary tostore in the rendering memory 105 various data for rendering that hasbeen determined for the object. In other words, because a load area fordata that is required for rendering of essential objects and priorityobjects is necessary in the rendering memory 105, inevitably arestriction that depends on surplus resources of the rendering memory105 occurs when rendering NPC cars.

Also, from a memory perspective, for example resources of the memory 103are spent in order to manage information required for control of an NPCsuch as decision-making for each area where a PC exists and informationindicating a condition of the NPC. For the reality presentation, whileit may shift in accordance with the world-view, it is necessary tomanage to be able to cause a wide variety of NPCs, whose numbercorresponds to an area and who have different gender or clothing, toappear in order not to give the player a feeling of constantunderpopulation. Also, for these NPCs, it is necessary independentlymanage a state such as that of a position or an action in order not tocause an unrealistic situation to occur, such as when more than one ofthe same NPC exists within a short distance, or when the same NPCinvariably exists wherever one goes even if one moves to a differentposition such as a town. It is necessary to similarly manage a state,such as that of a position or a behavior, for NPC cars so not to causean unrealistic situation to arise, but a possibility that it isdetermined that it should be rendered necessarily is lower than with anNPC; that is, for example, the necessity of giving up on the locating ofan essential NPC to locate an NPC car is low, and therefore resources ofthe memory 103 are preferentially allocated to store data for managingNPCs. Therefore, a region for storing data required for rendering andmanaging NPC cars inevitably has a restriction that depends on surplusresources of the memory 103.

Additionally, for implementation of a physical simulation, the controlunit 101 or the rendering unit 104 handles a predetermined physicalcomputation within the range of each computation resource. That is, itis necessary for the control unit 101 or the rendering unit 104 toperform processing for a physical computation for, for example, anessential object for a reality presentation, and therefore rendering ofan NPC car, a movement calculation, and (if needed) a physicalcomputation are inevitably restricted by surplus resources ofcomputation resources.

In this way, for processing for NPC cars for which the necessity forrendering is assigned to be low, the processing needs to be executedunder the restriction of a hardware resource of the game console 100such that reality is not caused to be broken.

<Behavior of Rendering Objects>

Regarding behavior, typically in character objects, the behavior of acharacter to which a fixed role is given, such as a PC which is a targetof manipulation by the player, an ally character made to act alongsideas an “ally” of a PC in the game, an enemy character that is a battleopponent of a PC, a sub-character such as a person involved in aspecific event or a shop owner in the game, or the like is an elementthat tends to be focused on by a player, and therefore it is necessaryto control preferentially so that such behavior does not becomeunnatural in order to present a suitable reality. On the other hand, itcan be said that a lively element character to which a fixed role is notgiven such as one that merely sits in a place, a character greatlyseparated from a PC, a character that does not enter into or is occludedin a rendering range of the screen, or the like, tends not to be focusedon by a player even if it is a character object, for example.

Similarly, in an object that is a physical object that is not acharacter, such as an NPC car, it is advantageous for a realitypresentation that a behavior be caused to change in accordance with theexistence of an unevenness in a street or a BG object, an obstacle (asmall tool, props) that is not fixed, a character object that entersinto traffic lane that is being driven, or the like, for example, anddynamic behavior control that is performed having determined a situationbecomes necessary. Meanwhile, if a situation is not such that it ispossible for the player to grasp the situation in which an object isplaced for such a dynamic behavior change, it will be impossible for himto understand the reason for that behavior, and therefore it is somewhatmeaningless to perform dynamic behavior control for an object that isfar from a viewpoint which is located with the PC as a reference whenscreen rendering. However, because it can be said that the existence ofa moving body such as an NPC car, and its course as it moves furtheraway may be focused on, even if its distance is separated from the PC,stopping its rendering for that reason could give the player anunrealistic impression such as when the physical object that he wasfocusing on suddenly disappears.

Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the existence or absence ofdynamic behavior control of an NPC car is switched in accordance withthe distance from the PC. Specifically, hardware resources are allocatedpreferentially for an NPC car that is not separated from the PC by apredetermined distance, as a dynamic behavior control target, andprocessing is performed for control based on a physical computation thatconsiders a collision of props or a BG object such as a street.Meanwhile, an NPC car located more than the predetermined distance fromthe PC is removed from being the target of the dynamic behavior control.At this time, because normally control is performed so that the NPC caris maintained on the street based on repulsion due to a streetcollision, rather than assuming a state that does not consider a streetcollision (if following a physical simulation, the NPC car falls out ofthe street), processing is caused to be different such that a physicalcomputation is not performed and it is caused to move followinginformation that indicates the route of the road (information thatdefines a curved line of a curve in three-dimensional coordinates).

Also, so that unnatural behavior does not occur at a timing of a switchdue to this kind of a switch being performed in accordance with adistance from the PC, configuration is taken such that information of aspeed at which it proceeded up until the position of switching fromdynamic behavior control in a case where the distance increased, forexample, is inherited and transition is made to processing of movementthat follows the route. Also, if conversely the distance becomes closer,control is taken to initiate a physical computation, causing the speedof the processing of movement that followed the route until theswitching position to be an initial speed.

Also, while there are realistic cases in which for an NPC car a lightingstate such as for headlights is set depending on the weather or a timeperiod, because often the amount of computation for a physicalcomputation corresponding to an expression of shading, a reflection, orthe like, that occurs due to the light source, for example, becomeslarge, the distance between the PC and the NPC car that is made to bethe target of the execution may be made to be shorter than for aphysical computation for behavior. In other words, configuration may betaken such that while a computation corresponding to a light source thatentered a lighting state is performed for an NPC car located at apredetermined distance from the PC, and an effect that corresponds tothat light source is considered on other objects, processing that doesnot execute a computation for shading rendering and that limits anillumination area for an NPC car that is separated by that distance maybe performed. Also, it goes without saying that this kind of physicalcomputation switching is not limited to a light source and may beapplied to an effect due to VFX, and configuration may be taken so as toarrange threshold values of distances at which to perform the switchingin a stepwise fashion, or to limit the execution content at each of thesteps.

<Individual Variability of Rendering Objects>

For individual variability elements, normally a dedicated model,texture, rendering program, or the like is arranged in advance for anobject of a physical object that can be, as described above, anessential object, such as a character that has a fixed role, or adecoration, or vehicle or the like that is associated with thecharacter. Also, similarly dedicated data for rendering is arranged fora building, a gimmick, or the like that is located at a particular townor point that the PC repeatedly visits in the content. It is possible toallow the player to recognize distinguishably which individual theseobjects for rendering are indicating by the objects being shown as thescreen repeatedly.

Meanwhile, for objects for which it is not necessary to allow the playerto recognize distinguishably, such as with an NPC car, and the necessityto arrange different respective dedicated models and textures is low. Inparticular, it is not necessarily the case that it is sufficient tocause a determined number of a rendering object such as an NPC car toappear; the number that are caused to appear should be controlled inaccordance with a situation in the content and a desired expression inthe content such a time period and a world-view. Even if, for example,the locating of several tens of NPC cars is necessary to express anurban area having a high amount of traffic in view of this kind ofdisplay priority placement, it is not realistic to load into therendering memory 105 and render respectively different dedicated modelsand textures for all of these. In other words, because it is necessaryto load into the rendering memory 105 data for rendering that isdedicated for an essential object as described above, data for renderingcorresponding to several tens of NPC cars must be loaded using a surplusresource of the rendering memory 105.

In contrast to this, if the types of the NPC cars are limited, forexample, data for rendering can be loaded into the surplus resources ofthe rendering memory 105. However, several tens of NPC cars beingrendered by limited types of NPC cars cannot provide an ideal reality tothe player. In other words, because it is rare in the real world forseveral tens of only limited types of automobiles to exist in one urbanarea, an unnatural impression may be given to the player. In contrast tothis, it is possible to express NPC cars of different types by applyingdifferent textures to the models of NPC cars of the same type. However,for a beautiful rendering expression, typically a texture having a largenumber of pixels is required, but the amount of data for such a textureis large, and the number that can be loaded into the surplus resourcesof the rendering memory 105 is limited.

In the present embodiment, by using a rendering program such as followsfor an NPC car, an arrangement for generating an NPC car that presentsan individual variability that configures a plurality of types oftextures forming different outer appearances from a limited number oftextures or maps associated for one model is used. With this, comparedto an approach of generating NPC cars of a plurality of types using thesame model, it is possible to reduce an occupation ratio of therendering memory 105 used for one type of NPC car.

Specifically, textures and a rendering program are configured to be ableto cause a material expression for 3 types of portions: the body portion(a paint part and a metal part); an interior+tires+an awning part; andthe glass+light emitting units (light types) to be different so as toexpress individual variability of NPC cars, for example, in a case wherean automobile model is used as a tangible object as in the game contentof the present embodiment. For example, explaining with the body portionas an example, one reference color texture for a body portion isprepared for one model of an NPC car as illustrated in FIG. 2A. Withthis reference color texture, a portion to which a reference color thatbecomes the outer appearance of the vehicle is applied is configuredwith white, and it is made possible to apply a color value of areference color that is applied to that portion by a rendering programfor the model by changing an instruction value. Note that the renderingprogram can be made to recognize the reference color region bymulti-masking as illustrated in FIG. 2B. In the example of FIG. 2B,configuration is taken such that 2 types of reference colors can beselected for different regions of the body for the target NPC car model;masks 201 and 202 which indicate the parts to which each reference coloris applied are held as different channels (in the example of FIG. 2B, rchannel and g channel) of one image.

Also, a damage pattern 203 for expressing a distribution of damage thatoccurs on the body is arranged in another channel (b channel) of themulti-masking, as illustrated in FIG. 2B. With the damage pattern, by arange of pixel values being designated, it is possible to designate apixel having a pixel value included in that range as a pixel that adds adamage expression to a reference color texture. In the game content ofthe present embodiment, configuration is such that a rust, a fadedcolor, a paint peeling, and an unevenness can be added as a damageexpression for the body of an NPC car. These damage expressions areimplemented by applying a color texture, a color mask, a material map, anormal map, a color map or the like which are arranged for eachexpression with respect to a pixel having a pixel value in thedesignated range for each tile that the damage pattern 203 is dividedinto.

In this way, in the game content of the present embodiment, by executinga rendering program by designating a parameter for each type ofmaterial, it is possible to render such that a texture of a materialexpression corresponding to the parameter is applied when renderingmodel data that applies a predetermined reference color texture. Withthis, it is possible to generate NPC cars as in FIGS. 3A, 3B, 3C and 3Dwhich can give the player an impression that textures that indicatedifferent outer appearances are applied even if a plurality of texturesare not loaded for each NPC car model. Accordingly, it is possible toperform NPC car rendering that does not cause reality to be ruined inlimited surplus resources of the rendering memory 105.

<Other Control Based on World-View>

In addition, in game content that the game console 100 of the presentembodiment provides, control for generating an NPC car based on aworld-view as an element for a reality presentation is performed. Theworld-view is implemented by predetermining tendencies of types havinghigh traffic frequency in a specific area in the game or in a specifictime period, and tendencies of riding characters for each type (gender,number of people, personal relationship, etc.) for example. The numberof cars that are located, and the type of the NPC cars that aregenerated may be determined in accordance with a world-view determinedfor a respective area so as, for example, to have tendencies for thereto be many types for industry such as trucks in an industrial region,and on the other hand for there to be many small types in a town area,and for there to be a lower frequency of traffic of ordinary types in anight time period or on a rainy day, and for there to be men and womencharacters riding as a couple in certain types, and where only a limitednumber of types with a flashy design are located in an area. Also,tendencies of traffic frequency may be determined by interworking with aselected material element; in order to avoid an unnatural situation inwhich, for example, only new NPC cars, or only rusty NPC cars pass by,the locating of each type may be something for which material tendencies(in particular, elements outside of a reference color) are determined inaccordance with an area or a time period.

In an area in which it is advantageous that many cars be located, suchas a gas station, or a parking lot, for example, it is necessary tolocate NPC cars by performing a physical computation that considersunevenness in terrain and the street as described above. However, whilethis kind of so-called lively element is necessary for a realitypresentation, normally such an NPC car is stopped and it is notnecessary to perform a physical computation until it enters a state inwhich it moves after locating. In other words, control of whether or notto set a physical computation target in accordance with the locatingintent or the area in which it is located, and not only switching of theexistence or absence of a physical computation in accordance with thedistance from the PC as described above, should be performed.Accordingly, in the present embodiment, an NPC car for which the mainpurpose is made to be only locating such as a lively element, is causedto be grounded on the road by performing a physical computation uponlocating so not to locate without consideration of the unevenness of theterrain; however, because a physical computation becomes unnecessaryafter the passage of a predetermined time period, control is performedto avoid an unnecessarily consumption of hardware resources by removalfrom being the target of execution of a physical computation by changingan attribute for a static object irrespective of distance from the PC.

<NPC Car Locating Processing>

Using the flowchart of FIG. 4, explanation is given of specificprocessing for NPC car locating processing executed in the game console100 of the present embodiment having this kind of configuration. Theprocessing corresponding to this flowchart can be implemented by thecontrol unit 101 reading a corresponding processing program stored inthe storage medium 102, for example, loading it into the memory 103, andexecuting it.

Note that this NPC car locating processing is explained as somethingthat is executed in predetermined frame intervals, for example, isexecuted when a predetermined time period in the game passes, or isinitiated when it is determined that a PC has moved a specific distanceor into a specific area. Also, this NPC car locating processing may beprocessing that is performed in parallel to processing for rendering agame screen for every frame, and may be made to operate so as togenerate NPC cars sequentially at a lower priority level than that ofprocessing for rendering for essential objects and priority objects, andto locate the generated NPC cars for scene data for sequential screenrendering.

In step S401, the control unit 101 identifies a usage amount for ahardware resource that is used in various computations and renderingprocessing for a rendering object to be located in a target scene. Thatis, the control unit 101 identifies a usage amount of an allocatedresource for a computation and a resource for holding data for essentialobjects and priority objects located in a target scene that aredetermined in accordance with a current position of a PC. Note thatbecause there exist rendering objects for which it is necessary toperform data loading prior to manipulation by a player, and renderingobjects that enter into an angle of view that is determined based on aviewpoint, and the like, the target scene is not limited to a regionwithin an angle of view determined based on the viewpoint (a range thatis rendered for a screen), and may be something that is determinedconsidering a wider region.

In step S402, the control unit 101 calculates a number of types of NPCcars for which corresponding data can be loaded into the renderingmemory 105. The control unit 101 identifies a surplus resource amount ofthe rendering memory 105 based on the usage amount of the renderingmemory 105 obtained in step S401, that is a resource amount for whichallocation for NPC car rendering is possible. Then, the control unit 101obtains a number of types for which data loading is possible by dividingthe resource amount for which allocation is possible, for example, by adata amount for data necessary for rendering an NPC car. For simplicity,in the present embodiment, explanation is given having the data amountfor an NPC car that is necessary to render each type be the same, butrealistically, the data amount will differ for each type, and thereforethe number of types for which data loading is possible may be obtainedbased on, for example, a maximum data amount for all NPC car types, oran average data amount. Alternatively, configuration may be taken suchthat information of an NPC car type that is located which is determinedfor a current time period in the game and area in which the PC exists isobtained to obtain the number of types for which data loading ispossible.

In step S403, the control unit 101 determines a type of NPC car that islocated by referencing information for NPC car locating which ispredetermined. Information for NPC car locating may be of aconfiguration as in FIG. 5, for example, and as explained in the outlineof processing for NPC cars corresponding to a reality presentation, thetypes that pass by, and the time periods thereof are determined for eacharea in the game and type of weather. The control unit 101 referencesthe information for NPC car locating, and identifies a type that can belocated in the target scene by a condition of an area in which the PCcurrently exists, the weather of that area, and the time period. Thenthe control unit 101 selects, as load targets, from the types that canbe located, types of NPC cars of a number that can be data-loaded intothe rendering memory 105. Note that configuration may be such that ifthe types that can be located according to the time period are lessnumerous than the number of the types of NPC cars for which data loadingis possible, only the types that can be located are selected as loadtargets.

In step S404, the control unit 101 reads data for rendering for the NPCcars of the types selected as the load targets from the storage medium102, and loads it into the rendering memory 105.

In step S405, the control unit 101 identifies the number of non-movingNPC cars to be located in the target scene, and the locating coordinatesthereof, and sequentially determines the types to be located from theload target types in accordance with information of frequency ofappearance of each type which is determined for information for NPC carlocating.

In step S406, the control unit 101 sets a material parameter of NPC carsof the types determined in step S405, and locates in the target scene byperforming a physical computation. Specifically, the control unit 101sets and stores in the memory 103 a value or application level for eachtype of material parameter which is an outer appearance parameter for anNPC car that is located in a range determined for information for NPCcar locating for each material of a determined type. For a materialparameter stored in this way, it is possible to render as an NPC car ofan outer appearance corresponding to the set material parameter by arendering program corresponding to the type determined based on this setvalue being executed by the rendering unit 104. Also, the control unit101 performs a physical computation corresponding to terrain of worldcoordinates that are located when locating an NPC car of the determinedtype in the target scene. The rendering unit 104 locates the NPC car inan orientation corresponding to the computation result at thosecoordinates. Note that a physical computation corresponding to locatingas described above may cause a drop from a particular position oflocating coordinates, for example, perform a collision computation inaccordance with a collision of a street, and be terminated when theorientation reaches a converged state (a steady state), and the NPC caris fixedly located in the target scene as a static BG object in thisstate.

The processing of step S405 and step S406 is repeated until all of thenon-moving NPC cars to be located are located in the target scene.

In step S407, the control unit 101 determines the number of NPC carsthat move to locate in the target scene, movement courses, and movementstart coordinates based on surplus computation resources, andsequentially determines the types to locate from the load target typesin accordance with information of appearance frequency for each typewhich is determined for information for locating NPC cars. In the gamecontent of the present embodiment, because whether or not to control abehavior of an NPC car based on a physical computation in accordancewith a distance from the PC is switched as described above, the controlunit 101 determines the number to locate, movement courses, and movementstart coordinates in order to be able to implement a number of NPC carsfor which parallel physical computation is possible in surpluscomputation resources. The movement courses may determined to run alonga route of a road between locations that are predetermined, for example,and the movement start coordinates may be determined based on a pointdetermined on that movement course and a direction of forward movement.Also, in this step, the control unit 101 selects NPCs corresponding to acondition (omitted in the example of FIG. 5) indicated in informationfor locating an NPC car from NPCs that are not scene-located in thecurrent display as NPCs that are caused to ride in the NPC cars of thedetermined types.

In step S408, the control unit 101 sets a material parameter of NPC carsof the types determined in step S407, and locates in the target scene.Specifically, the control unit 101 sets a value or application level ofvarious parameters of an NPC car that is located in range determined forinformation for locating an NPC car for each material of the determinedtype, and stores in the memory 103 in association with an NPC caused toride therein. Also, the control unit 101 calculates a distance betweenmovement start coordinates and position coordinates of the PC, anddetermines whether or not to perform locating based on a physicalcomputation based on that distance. The control unit 101 performs aphysical computation corresponding to terrain of world coordinates(movement start coordinates) that are located when locating the an NPCcar of the determined type together with an NPC in the target scene ifthe calculated distance falls below a distance at which it ispredetermined that the physical computation is performed. Then, thecontrol unit 101 locates an NPC car at those coordinates in anorientation corresponding to the computation result, and registers thatNPC car in a computation target list in the memory 103, for example, asa target for performance of behavior control according to a physicalcomputation. Also, the control unit 101 locates an NPC car of thedetermined type together with an NPC at the movement start coordinates,and registers it in a route movement target list in the memory 103, forexample, as a target of performance of control of movement followingroute information determined for a road which is a movement course ifthe calculated distance is greater than or equal to a predetermineddistance.

The processing of step S407 and step S408 is repeated until all of themoving NPC cars are located in the target scene. Note that an NPC carregistered in the computation target list is controlled so as to beremoved from the computation target list, and registered in the routemovement target list if a distance between coordinates after themovement due to a movement accompanying a physical computation followinga route thereafter and position coordinates of the PC are greater thanor equal to a predetermined distance. Also, conversely, an NPC carregistered in the route movement target list is controlled so as to beremoved from the route movement target list, and registered in thecomputation target list if a distance between coordinates after amovement according to a movement following a route thereafter andposition coordinates of the PC falls below a predetermined distance.

With such a configuration, it is possible to express an NPC car withonly locating and an NPC car for which locating and behavior control arenecessary with surplus hardware resources so as to present various outerappearances.

Note that explanation was given having the NPC car locating processingof the present embodiment be something in which the control unit 101determines a material parameter in a value range determined forinformation for locating an NPC car, but configuration may be taken suchthat a plurality of types of combinations of parameter values of eachmaterial are determined by the designer for information for locating anNPC car so not to end up with an unnatural outer appearance by anumerical value being selected randomly. In such a case, the controlunit 101 may set as a material parameter a combination of valuesselected from those combinations. Also, it is not necessarily necessarythat information for locating an NPC car be determined in accordancewith an area, the weather, or a time period; configuration may be takensuch that it is determined for at least one of these, and configurationmay be taken such that such that it is determined including otherconditions.

Also, in the present embodiment, while explanation was given having amaterial parameter for generating an NPC car be something that includesa rust, a faded color, a paint peeling, or an unevenness as a damagestate in addition to a reference color, implementation of the presentinvention is not limited to this, and configuration may be taken suchthat it is possible to set at least one of a reference color, a degreeof damage, a degree of degradation, and a degree of deformation in orderto present a different outer appearance of an NPC car, for example.Also, implementation of the present invention as described above is notsomething that is limited to automobiles; this may be applied forvarious rendering objects that configure an outer appearance by applyinga texture. Accordingly, various materials for which determination forthe outer appearance of a target rendering object is possible may be thetarget of setting for a material parameter as well.

Also, explanation for a usage amount of a hardware resource foressential objects and priority objects is omitted, but it goes withoutsaying that an LOD (Level of Detail) technique, a change in atessellation level, or the like may be performed to reduce the renderingload with respect to distant rendering objects.

Also, because an amount of surplus hardware resources may changesuccessively in accordance with manipulation performed by a player, thecontrol unit 101 may monitor or predict a usage amount, for example, andperform a deletion of an NPC car that is a control target or alimitation on a type as necessary. Also, for an NPC car that for whichbehavior control is performed based on a physical computation, movementcan be stopped due to a PC, or the like, that enters onto a traffic lanewhich driven on, but it is not necessary for the control unit 101 tocause the control to be such that data corresponding to that NPC car isreleased or removed from the computation target list even if a timeperiod in which a type of that NPC car is determined to appear isexceeded. That is, because causing the NPC car to disappear in asituation in which it may be focused on when its distance from the PC issmall causes a destruction of reality, in such a case the locating ofthat NPC car may be maintained, and a data release may be performed in asituation in which thereafter movement occurs and the distance from thePC becomes greater than or equal to a predetermined distance, and also adirection of a viewpoint for which it is determined that there will notbe a focus by a player is selected.

As explained above, it is possible for the information processingapparatus of the present embodiment to control and suitably generaterendering objects that present reality under a hardware restriction. Forexample, as one embodiment, the information processing apparatusdetermines, based on a first usage amount of a hardware resourceallocated for processing corresponding to objects of a first categoryincluding an essential object located in a target scene, a second usageamount of a hardware resource that can be allocated for processing forobjects of a second category different to the first category. Also, theinformation processing apparatus, for objects of the second categorywhich are located in the target scene, determines, based on informationfor determining outer appearances for when the objects of the secondcategory are located in the target scene and the second usage amount,types of those objects and an outer appearance parameter for each type.

OTHER EMBODIMENTS

While the present invention has been described with reference toexemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is notlimited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The scope of thefollowing claims is to be accorded the broadest interpretation so as toencompass all such modifications and equivalent structures andfunctions. Also, the information processing apparatus and the controlmethod of the information processing apparatus according to the presentinvention are realizable by a program executing the methods on one ormore computers. The program is providable/distributable by being storedon a computer-readable storage medium or through an electroniccommunication line.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No.2015-052749, filed Mar. 16, 2015, which is hereby incorporated byreference herein in its entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring a program that causes a computer, having a hardware resourceused for one of computation and holding data connected to a renderer forrendering a screen in which an object is located in a scene, to execute:identifying a first usage amount of the hardware resource which isallocated for processing corresponding to objects of a first categoryincluding an essential object located in a target scene; determining,based on the first usage amount, a second usage amount of the hardwareresource that is able to be allocated for processing for objects of asecond category different than the first category; and deciding, for theobjects of the second category which are located in the target scene,types of the objects and an outer appearance parameter for each of thetypes based on the second usage amount and information for decidingouter appearances for when the objects of the second category arelocated in the target scene, wherein a first type of the types of theobjects of the second category which are located in the target scene iscontrolled in accordance with dynamic behavior control, and a secondtype of the types of the objects of the second category which arelocated in the target scene is controlled without the dynamic behaviorcontrol.
 2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumaccording to claim 1, wherein the types of the objects of the secondcategory correspond to different object models.
 3. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the outerappearance parameter of at least one of the types of the objects changesa material attribute of a texture that is preset.
 4. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium according to claim 3, wherein thematerial attribute includes at least one of a reference color of amaterial, a degree of damage, a degree of degradation, and a degree ofdeformation.
 5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumaccording to claim 3, wherein the material attribute is configured suchthat an application level is changeable in accordance with the outerappearance parameter for at least one region of the texture.
 6. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1,wherein the information for deciding the outer appearances presets thetypes of the objects of the second category which are located in thetarget scene, and the outer appearance parameter for each of the typescorresponds to at least one of a position in a world, a time period, andweather of the target scene, and in the deciding, types of a numberwhich corresponds to the second usage amount from the types of theobjects of the second category set by the information for deciding theouter appearances for the target scene are selected as the types of theobjects of the second category which are located in the target scene. 7.The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim1, wherein, in the deciding, a plurality of outer appearance parametersthat differ with respect to one type of the objects of the secondcategory which are located in the target scene is decided, and theprogram further causes the computer to execute: successively causing therenderer to render each of the objects of the second category which arelocated in the target scene, that are decided in the deciding, based onthe outer appearance parameter of each of the objects.
 8. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1,wherein the program further causes the computer to execute: managing theobjects which are located in the target scene as control targets inresponse to a dynamic change, and in the managing, the objects of thesecond category are managed as the control targets when the objects arelocated in the target scene, and the objects are excluded from thecontrol targets after locating the objects.
 9. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein theprogram further causes the computer to execute: controlling a behaviorof the objects which are located in the target scene, and in thecontrolling, for the target scene, the behavior of the objects of thesecond category which are located in the target scene, which are locatedless than a predetermined distance from a predetermined object among theobjects of the first category, is controlled by a method that handles adynamic change, and the behavior of the objects of the second categorywhich are located in the target scene, which are located greater than orequal to the predetermined distance from the predetermined object, iscontrolled by a method that does not handle the dynamic change.
 10. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 9,wherein the method that handles the dynamic change controls the behaviorconsidering a determination of a collision with another object includinga terrain, and the method that does not handle the dynamic changecontrols the behavior on a predetermined path without considering thedetermination of the collision with the other object.
 11. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1,wherein the information for deciding the outer appearances presetsobjects of a third category, which are different from the objects of thefirst category and the second category and which are not givenfixed-roles, each of the objects of the third category is caused to beassociated with one of the objects of the second category depending on atype and an outer appearance parameter or a type of the one of theobjects of the second category, and in the determining, the objects ofthe third category are included as the outer appearance parameter of theone of the objects of the second category which is located in the targetscene.
 12. An information processing apparatus having a hardwareresource used for one of computation and holding data connected to arenderer for rendering a screen in which an object is located in ascene, the information processing apparatus comprising: a processor; anda memory including instructions that, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to perform operations including: identifying a firstusage amount of the hardware resource which is allocated for processingcorresponding to objects of a first category including an essentialobject located in a target scene; determining, based on the first usageamount identified by the identifier, a second usage amount of thehardware resource that is able to be allocated for processing forobjects of a second category different than the first category; anddeciding, for the objects of the second category which are located inthe target scene, types of the objects and an outer appearance parameterfor each of the types based on the second usage amount and informationfor deciding outer appearances for when the objects of the secondcategory are located in the target scene, wherein a first type of thetypes of the objects of the second category which are located in thetarget scene is controlled in accordance with dynamic behavior control,and a second type of the types of the objects of the second categorywhich are located in the target scene is controlled without the dynamicbehavior control.
 13. A method of controlling an information processingapparatus having a hardware resource used for one of computation andholding data connected to a renderer for rendering a screen in which anobject is located in a scene, the method comprising: identifying, by aprocessor, a first usage amount of the hardware resource which isallocated for processing corresponding to objects of a first categoryincluding an essential object located in a target scene; determining, bythe processor and based on the first usage amount, a second usage amountof the hardware resource that is able to be allocated for processing forobjects of a second category different than the first category; anddeciding, by the processor and for the objects of the second categorywhich are located in the target scene, types of the objects and an outerappearance parameter for each of the types based on the second usageamount and information for deciding outer appearances for when theobjects of the second category are located in the target scene, whereina first type of the types of the objects of the second category whichare located in the target scene is controlled in accordance with dynamicbehavior control, and a second type of the types of the objects of thesecond category which are located in the target scene is controlledwithout the dynamic behavior control.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium according to claim 1, wherein the typesof the objects of the second category which are located in the targetscene are decided based on a distance in the target scene from theessential object.
 15. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium according to claim 14, wherein objects of the first type aredecided to be closer to the essential object than objects of the secondtype.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium accordingto claim 15, wherein the program further causes the computer to execute:reclassifying one of the objects of the second category which is locatedin the target scene and decided to be the first type as the second typewhen a distance of the one of the objects changes to exceed apredetermined distance.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium according to claim 16, wherein the one of the objects which isreclassified from the first type to the second type transitions frombeing controlled with the dynamic behavior control to being controlledwithout the dynamic behavior control, and the transition is based on amovement speed of the one of the objects in the target scene.
 18. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1,wherein, for at least one of the objects of the second category which islocated in the target scene and decided to be the first type of thetypes of the objects, an effect of the at least one of the objects isdecided to be the second type of the types of the objects.
 19. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 1,wherein the deciding is performed at predetermined time intervals inparallel with processing for rendering a game screen.